Meanwhile, under the moniker "Sustainability is Our Mission," one fifth grade class in Jericho, Vermont, has become the state's most influential lobbyist for a less contentious emissions regulation -- a ban on bus idling. The students argue that school buses that idle while they wait not only harm the environment and student health, but also cost the state money. The ban they champion should pass in the state House.

But no policy pro is without a con; opponents of the bill don't want the state intervening in local matters. School boards, they say, should set school bus policy.

The state Senate has already passed a "middle ground" bill that would force the local school boards to adopt some policy on bus idling, though not necessarily a ban, by January.